Garth Brooks live in concert 2007 Live Earth show

Live Earth Concert to Be Held in Washington on Saturday

By J. Freedom Du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 6, 2007; 9:26 AM



Live Earth will be live in Washington, after all.

Al Gore's global-warming concert series -- previously given the cold shoulder here -- will touch down for a satellite show at the National Museum of the American Indian tomorrow morning, just hours before the main event in New Jersey.

The Washington concert will feature a rare performance by country-music power couple Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, along with remarks by the former vice president and 2000 Democratic White House nominee.

Their appearances -- to be televised internationally, with the U.S. Capitol in the backdrop -- will be high-wattage add-ons to the museum's previously scheduled Live Earth spinoff, "Mother Earth," a daylong program of performances and speeches by members of the Native American community.

The concert is free and will begin at 10:30 a.m. on the outdoor plaza of the museum, at 4th St. and Independence Ave. SW.

Gore made the surprise announcement today on CBS's "Early Show." The Washington show will be one of nine concerts staged on seven continents to bring attention to Gore's effort to raise concern about global climate change.

Gore had originally hoped to stage the primary U.S. show in Washington, but finding a suitable venue proved difficult. The Mall was booked for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, as well as a Christian festival called Together One Unity. A bipartisan effort to bring the concert to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol ran into Republican roadblocks.

When efforts to find a D.C. location proved futile, Gore and Live Earth Executive Producer Kevin Wall announced in April that they would go to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Scheduled performers there include the Police, the Dave Matthews Band, Alicia Keys, Fall Out Boy, Akon, Melissa Etheridge, Kanye West and Bon Jovi.

Now, Gore will have a presence in Washington, too, on the Mall's southeastern edge. He said he will begin his day at the Washington event before heading to New Jersey.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the scheduled appearance by Brooks, the country superstar who set album-sales and touring records in the 1990s before retiring from the music business in 2001.

Brooks rarely performs in public anymore, but he agreed to participate in Live Earth after he was personally invited by Gore. Don't expect a full-blown comeback concert, though: a representative for Brooks says the singer is likely to perform a single song with his wife, Yearwood -- the tolerance anthem "We Shall Be Free."